Star Wars: The Prequels

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

I love them to death, and hate the original ones. I know I'm in the minority but I don't understand why. The new movies are beautifully done, and have a deeper and darker story then the orginals. I laughed my way though the first 3, they were so awful. I only put up with them because of the prequels.

Can someone, nicely, explain why so many people hate them?

 

[Ilyena]

I love them to death, and hate the original ones. I know I'm in the minority but I don't understand why. The new movies are beautifully done, and have a deeper and darker story then the orginals. I laughed my way though the first 3, they were so awful. I only put up with them because of the prequels.

Can someone, nicely, explain why so many people hate them?

I can't speak for everyone but I really didn't enjoy the prequels. I thought the acting was stilted, the dialogue was laughably bad and the movies were just boring.

I'm not saying the original Trilogy had the greatest acting (Luke was actually kind of annoying at times) or even the best script but I still found it more enjoyable. I still enjoy the tongue-in-cheek humor and the cheesy graphics. I also liked the characters in the original trilogy much better.

That said, the prequels did have some good points. I did enjoy Palpatine. I thought he was great. I also thought the action was pretty decent.

However, I found myself very bored during the non-action scenes. And I really didn't like Anakin. I found him to be extremely annoying (it could have been the actor).

I saw them once; I doubt I'll watch them again. They just weren't my cup of tea really. But I certainly have nothing against those who enjoy them.

 

[.SEPHIROTH.]

I enjoyed the prequels, much more than the trilogy i thought Anakin was far more interesting than Luke, The special effects were better and the humorous moments were actually funny unlike the trilogy. and when i first saw the trilogy i thought Old Ben Kenobi was a pedophile lol im not quite sure why Star wars purists dislike the prequels though prejudice would be my guess "Oh no its new it must be awfull"

 

[charliepanayi]

OK here's alist of reasons why the Star Wars prequels are fatally flawed:

- First film having some convoluted storyline about trade federations
- Jar Jar Binks
- Way too much CGI used
- Atrocious love story element, especially in the second film.
- No Han Solo-type character
- Use of the word 'younglings'
- Third film has Anakin going from 'I couldn't possibly be evil!' to 'I will obey your every command Master' in the space of five minutes
- Messing up the birth of Darth Vader ('Nooooo!' - oh dear)
- Jar Jar Binks

Yes, Darth Maul was good and the final fight between Anakin and Obi Wan is great, but there's about one a bit good films trapped in three films of mediocrity. Comparing the original trilogy to the prequels is like comparing champagne to flat Coca-Cola

 

[SapphireStar]

Jar Jar Binks, nuff said lol.

But I think its perhaps due to the times they were made. Back in the 70s and 80s, the special effects were amazing and people believe they are beyond dated now. But the new effects they have now are too OTT and I guess they lose the magical sparkle SW use to have. Plus the actors and actresses are terrbile. I mean how Vader came about, the whole "NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" bit was laughable!

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

- First film having some convoluted storyline about trade federations
- Jar Jar Binks
- Way too much CGI used
- Atrocious love story element, especially in the second film.
- No Han Solo-type character
- Use of the word 'younglings'
- Third film has Anakin going from 'I couldn't possibly be evil!' to 'I will obey your every command Master' in the space of five minutes
- Messing up the birth of Darth Vader ('Nooooo!' - oh dear)
- Jar Jar Binks

I think that that convoluted storyline was actually an attempt to make the movies more then just some sort of daydream. It connected them to real life, and it introduced me to politics at a young age, both things that I think are good.

Jar Jar Binks, what can I say, I was a child in 1999, and I loved him. Nothing more to it. In fact, I still enjoy his humor and think it hearkens back to I Love Lucy and other great comedies.

I have nothing to say about CGI, as I thought that it was quite good for it's time, and truly amazing compared to what was used in the original trilogy.

I loved the love story, although I did find Anakin annoying. The acting wasn't the best, but it never is in Star Wars. I would argue that the only good actor died in Episode IV, and the rest aren't that great, although I think Portman did the best job in the prequels, but that could be because I'm a fan.

Gasp if you want, I know you well when you read my final post point, but I found some aspects of Han in Padme. But if you don't accept that, I guess I could close with the fact that Han was my least favorite Star Wars character ,so I was really glad none of the characters were as childish as he was. Whichever you prefer.

 

[charliepanayi]

Han was your LEAST favourite character? He's by miles the best thing about the original trilogy (and the best actor in it).

I Love Lucy? The only thing Jar Jar Binks harks back to is borderline racist 'aren't black people funny and speak odd' comedy from decades ago.

And frankly I don't what people mean about the special effects in the original trilogy, they hold up pretty well these days, and were actually used when needed, rather than the newer films which like so many films these days just pushes the CGI button whenever it feels like it.

 

[SapphireStar]

Han was your LEAST favourite character? He's by miles the best thing about the original trilogy (and the best actor in it).

I Love Lucy? The only thing Jar Jar Binks harks back to is borderline racist 'aren't black people funny and speak odd' comedy from decades ago.

And frankly I don't what people mean about the special effects in the original trilogy, they hold up pretty well these days, and were actually used when needed, rather than the newer films which like so many films these days just pushes the CGI button whenever it feels like it.

Agree word for word. Han is one of the most popular and loved characters in the SW universe. Well, next to Vader and Yoda lol. Jar Jar was just a joke. "Oh, lets get the kids into Star Wars!" The Ewoks were 100000 times cuter then Jar Jar and werent borderline racist. Even Chewbacca is more cuddly and amusing. Plus the old effects are more impressive. Everything nowadays is CGfreakingI and its getting to the point of boredom!

 

[charliepanayi]

As TV show Spaced put it when it's mentioned that the Ewoks weren't that great, 'Compared to Jar Jar, the Ewoks are like f***ing...Shaft!' XD

 

[Noblesse Oblige]

Well in this day and age, all movies have CGI in one form or another. The only movies not CGI'd are truely animated cartoons.....so...yeah (YMMV.)

Personally, I like the prequels, but I hate Jar Jar, end of story.

 

[Gabranth]

While the lightsaber duels are better in the prequel, the acting...isn't. Honestly, I think Chewbacca and R2D2 are better actors than Hayden. While Episode 1 and 2 are the worst of the entire series (though Darth Maul was great..) Episode 3 was surprisingly good. As always though, Christopher Lee, Samuel L Jackson and Ian McDiarmid play their roles well.

 

[charliepanayi]

Well in this day and age, all movies have CGI in one form or another. The only movies not CGI'd are truely animated cartoons.....so...yeah (YMMV.)

Personally, I like the prequels, but I hate Jar Jar, end of story.

Eh? ALL movies have CGI? Really? Am I mis-reading this statement?

I'll agree about Christopher Lee and Ian McDiarmid etc in the prequels, they try their hardest with the material given to them.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

Han was your LEAST favourite character? He's by miles the best thing about the original trilogy (and the best actor in it).

I Love Lucy? The only thing Jar Jar Binks harks back to is borderline racist 'aren't black people funny and speak odd' comedy from decades ago.

And frankly I don't what people mean about the special effects in the original trilogy, they hold up pretty well these days, and were actually used when needed, rather than the newer films which like so many films these days just pushes the CGI button whenever it feels like it.

I was waiting for the whole borderline racist thing, but find myself suprised that you didn't mention Watto being a Jew theroy is well. I don't agree with it all, Jar Jar isn't meant to be a rep for black people. You're not supposed to bring outside references into a movie about another world, it just doesn't make sense to me.

I detest Han, how it feels so good to say it. He was a jerk to everyone, the typical bad boy with a heart of gold. Why do I care? I'd seen it so many times, in books and movies, that by the time I got to him, I was like oh that's nice, why is here again. Sometimes it's okay for a bad guy on the outside to be bad on the inside, too.

I thought the CG was unnoticeable, but then again, I grew up with it, so I probably don't notice it as much.

But, seriously, can't anyone look past Jar Jar. I was able to look past Han, and acutally watch the last or first, or whatever you want to say, movies, and found them to be passable.

I just don't get it.

Of course, I'm more then willing to admit that Hayden was a bit wooden, but i have to question whether it was his fault, or some of those awful lines that come up at times. Of course, there were also awful lines and awful acting in the orignal. In fact, when I want good acting, I go with a Meryl Streep film. I think that she's one of our most talented actors, although I also just love Maggie Smith.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

I grew up worshipping the real Star Wars trilogy, and I absolutely detest the prequel movies.

First thing first, I think George Lucas is a genius. He's come up with some of the most loved movie franchises of all time, and completely revolutionized the way in which movies are marketed. Problem is though, that even if he's always been full of great ideas, he was never a great writer or director. During the making of the original trilogy, he acknowledged this and enlisted other people to direct and write, but in the prequels he decided to do all that himself.

The horrible writing and direction aside, I really hated the excessive use of CGI. CGI, no matter how good it is, is still no match for real set pieces and should only ever be used in live action movies when there's no way in hell you could do what you want to do without it. In the Star Wars prequels however, they use it constantly. Even in situations where costumes or real set pieces would have looked much more convincing.

The Yoda doll from the original movies looked great, and there really was no need for a CGI Yoda. Hell if they had stuck with doll Yoda, then maybe we would have been spared the absolutely ridiculous Yoda fighting scenes I also see no reason as to why all the clone troopers had to be CGI. Of course CGI clone troopers are handy in situations where there are lots of them operating on the screen at the same time, but a couple of guys in costumes would have been so much better in the scenes where we see 10 or less at one time.

Then there's all the pointless CGI backgrounds. Some of them were great of course, but was there really any point in having a 3 second scene where a Jedi is shot dead by clone troopers in an elaborate CGI giant mushroom forest? I think not. Hoth and Endor from the original trilogy were shot on location in Norway and California respectively, and both were much more convincing alien worlds than any of the CGI worlds from the prequels.

And then of course there's my least favourite thing about the prequels: Mannequin/Emokid Skywalker who actually manage to beat Jar Jar as the worst Star Wars character ever by a landslide. In the original trilogy Darth Vader is portrayed as this great great Jedi who fell to the dark side. In the prequels he's a whiney annoying little bitch with a serious inferiority complex. Also in spite of the whole "Padme might die in childbirth" thing, his fall to the dark side still comes off as being more due to Anakin being a bit on the dim side.

 

[Kim Taehyung]

Anakin, as a character, is actually pretty dynamic, at least in my own opinion. I really liked the story of his inner conflict of trying to save Padme from what he is sure is certain death. The acting, I agree, could've been better, but I don't think Anakin was the worst character in the entire Prequel Trilogy. Jar Jar was. Seriously, I'm glad that as the movies went on, they shut him the hell up. He only has a few lines in the second one, and absolutely none in the third. Still, though, it doesn't help that he had as many as he did in the first.

And as for the issue with Han, I was pretty disappointed that they didn't at least have a child version of him at some point, seeing that nearly everyone else in the original trilogy (Chewbacca, yoda, R2D2, C3PO, Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Darth Sidious[The Emperor], Luke, Leia) were in it, even for just a few seconds. I can understand if someone doesn't like Han because of his childish attitude, but that's just his character, and I for one found him to be absolutely hysterical. He was my favorite character in the original trilogy.

but that's all just my opinion. Obviously I had something to say about it. XD

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

Anakin, as a character, is actually pretty dynamic, at least in my own opinion. I really liked the story of his inner conflict of trying to save Padme from what he is sure is certain death. The acting, I agree, could've been better, but I don't think Anakin was the worst character in the entire Prequel Trilogy. Jar Jar was. Seriously, I'm glad that as the movies went on, they shut him the hell up. He only has a few lines in the second one, and absolutely none in the third. Still, though, it doesn't help that he had as many as he did in the first.

If it makes anyone feel better, Jar Jar was pretty much singled handely responsible for the fall of the Republic, with his whole dellow fellowgates speech from the second movie.

Okay, but seriously can someone really expalin the universal hate of CG use in the movie to me, I just don't get it. Did it really distract all that much from the movie? Like I said before, I didn't even notice. I thought it was really background, which I liked as it didn't steal the movie.

I think Anakin's character was more ruined by the questionable acting, then the actual story. The whole turned to save Padme thing could've been interesting if Hayden could've acted slightly better. Of course, acting in general in star wars seems to take a backseat, but that's just my opinion.

On another level, I've just been awaken to the fact that not only people from the time of the orignal trilogy hate these movies. I thought it was the whole failed expectations thing, but most of us weren't old enough to have expecations at that time.

 

[Kim Taehyung]

I've got one more thing to say: out of the entire prequel series, I'd say that Mace Windu and Obi-Wan were the best acting wise (Samuel L. Jackson and Ewan McGregor, respectively). Jackson already having made a name for himself as an actor, And McGregor isn't a bad actor, not in the slightest. Together they pretty much owned over Hayden. And I do agree with the "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" line, which totally ruined the moment.

 

[Jase Elendius]

I enjoyed the prequels quite a bit. They were, however, (according to Lucas and a few on his staff) targeting the youths more so than the classic fans. I suppose it's similar to the route Star Trek is taking now. True, the classics in both Star Wars and Star Trek are considered to be just that, classics. But the films are also a franchise their developers wish to capitalize on. Both have games, books, comics, etc. and are dependent on having a reliable fanbase which grows over time. Star Wars and Star Trek were becoming more of a cult following than a popular and growing fanbase.

Episode 1 was great, and I was about to enter 6th grade when it was released. I had been a Star Wars fan since I was four years old (I blame my uncle), but I was young enough to enjoy Episode 1. Episode 2 I also enjoyed quite a bit, and Episode 3 had more of a mature feel than the previous 2. Though Jar Jar Binks is certainly annoying, and Hayden sounds like he's bored out of his mind a lot of the time with very shallow expressions, it wasn't enough to ruin the films for me. I think he did a pretty good job actually in Episode 3. And Ewan McGreggor's performance really shined.

However, I still enjoy the classics immensely more than the prequels. Something about Luke, Han and Leia that I just can't seem to get enough of. I've lost count how many times I've watched those films.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

I have to be honest, while I didn't care for Haydens's actor, and he was the worst, I didn't care SLJ either. I just couldn't see him in that role. But, I didn't hate him, I mean he did okay. Ewan is a good actor, but I have my opinion of who is the best.

Guesswho? (Hint:She's in my name)

Yes, that's right N. Portman. I loved her as Padme, and thought she was a really good actress. I also loved V for Vendetta, but that's another story.

What about the good lines?

What "So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous appaluse."
That was the best movie line ever, it give me chills.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

I enjoyed the prequels quite a bit. They were, however, (according to Lucas and a few on his staff) targeting the youths more so than the classic fans. I suppose it's similar to the route Star Trek is taking now. True, the classics in both Star Wars and Star Trek are considered to be just that, classics. But the films are also a franchise their developers wish to capitalize on. Both have games, books, comics, etc. and are dependent on having a reliable fanbase which grows over time. Star Wars and Star Trek were becoming more of a cult following than a popular and growing fanbase.

Funny thing that you should mention the new Star Trek movie, because I actually think that a lot of the things George Lucas got totally wrong in the new Star Wars movies, JJ Abrams and his team got totally right.

The new Star Trek movie did have some stunning CGI, but the focal point was still on actual set pieces, make-up, and locations which made the movie feel so much more real.